• The scales of justice include principles of finance law.Legal Law Justice image by Stacey Alexander from Fotolia.com
  
  They provide fodder for late night-- and mid-day --comics who refer to them as ambulance chasers and legal eagles, but they are actually under-employed or unemployed lawyers. Yet, law schools are still educating and graduating these law students, which is perfectly explainable.
  
  Our current economic atmosphere brought about by certain identifiable sectors has an attraction for sharp, ethical attorneys. This accounts for migration of a large part of the attorney population. They are finding lucrative employment in the corporate world, which is looking for diligent oversight.
  
  

Occupational Fields

• Finance law and its practitioners are finding employment in such fields as banking, investment, corporations and business development with a focus on risk management. The importance of this focus should be obvious, especially in the financial field. The financial industry recognizes the high-level reasoning, problem-solving skills and analytical ability of these highly educated professionals.
  
  A corporate finance career is not without its benefits and allows for a higher level of responsibility and interaction through changing daily activities. Compensation for this level of responsibility can be equal to, or better, than any law firm could offer and bonus packages often accompany this compensation.
  
  

Education

• Law schools are responding with training in fields where employment of these professionals is already high and projected to grow further. Today's law schools recognize the importance of this need for knowledge in finance law. Many institutions are offering courses in business law, finance law, investment banking and corporate law to prepare students for careers in finance law.
  
  This tendency toward career change also affects active attorneys. Approximately 20% to 30% of practicing lawyers report that they are in this group, according to a Harvard Law School article in Careerjournal.com. This report was the trigger to establishment of The Harvard Law School Guide to Careers in Finance. It addresses issues responsible for migration of lawyers into other fields as well as situations and concerns peculiar and relevant to the business and finance workplaces.
  
  

Career Opportunities

• The transition into the finance law career of choice has a steep learning curve for former lawyers as well as recent law school graduates. Employers will often place a person with a law degree ahead of the person with another type of graduate degree in spite of that learning curve, which could last a year or longer.
  
  Lawyers must learn to speak in a language less fraught with legalese. They need to acquire and polish skills in the art of negotiation. Most attorneys who take positions in financial fields become active in risk management, a field that is still evolving.
  
  Top management expects a risk management professional to be diligent about vocalizing policies that promote risk avoidance. They are looking for a financial world free of situations like Enron, World Bank, AIG, secondary market investors and others yet to emerge. The industry seeks restoration of trustworthiness, self-esteem and public respect.